Happy Birthday Mama

With today being the "something someth" birthday of my mother (I know the number, I am just not sharing, to protect the guilty .... me), I thought I would take some time to look up other events that happened on this day. I cannot believe that I have not done this in the past, but WOW, there were a lot of things that have happened on May 19th in history.

From the New York Times "On This Day" Page, here are a few high lights.

1536	Anne Boleyn, the second wife of England's King Henry VIII, was beheaded after being convicted of adultery.
1962	Actress Marilyn Monroe performed a sultry rendition of "Happy Birthday" for President John F. Kennedy during a fund-raiser at New York's Madison Square Garden.
1992	Vice President Dan Quayle criticized the CBS sitcom "Murphy Brown" because the title character chose to have a child out of wedlock.
1994	Former first lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis died in New York at age 64.
2005	"Revenge of the Sith," the final chapter of the "Star Wars" saga, opened in movie theaters.

Sorry Mama, but I HAD to put the Marilyn Monroe dance in as a link.

I Love You Mama and I hope you have had a really great birthday!

How many souls sleep here?

When we go to sleep at night, it is fun to think about how many souls are nodding off under this roof that are not Mom, Dad, or one of the children.

Come in and meet the four legged family members (smallest to largest).

Scruffy - Abyssinian Australian Guinea Pig
Basically a ball of fur that eats, makes whistling noises, and drops little raisins. I was completely against getting the thing, now she is one of my favorite pets.

Abby - Berman - Ragdoll
The internet is not big enough to describe the attitude that this cat has. You know your cat is sexy when she is missing three teeth and is two toes short of a world record. She got lost once for almost two weeks. Once found and returned, she is terrified of leaving the yard.

Jingle - Black Short Hair Domestic
The cat that most disliked me when she arrived is now that one that Vickie swears cries "Dadddddyyy" when she walks by me. She acts like a six year old girl after her fathers affection.

Lou-Lou - Tabby / Short Hair Domestic
This is the "old-man" of the house. I have had him since 1994 and as far as I can tell, he thinks he is human. He would be the only cat still having front claws, although I don't believe he knows it.

Recon - Blue Point Siamese
This bad boy wakes up for about 1 hour a day, sleeps with his face always buried in something (carpet, pillow, another cat, etc.). When he is awake and plays, he is usually upside down or chasing a moth .... WEIRDO!

Shem - Bobbed Tailed Tabby / Short Hair Domestic
When he first moved into our house, he was so big we had to install a dog door instead of a cat door. This cat even has it's own facebook page, now that is a big, fat, lazy hunk of manly fur.

Jasmine - Yellow Labrador Retriever
She is one of the most gentle dogs I have ever met, even after we brought all these cats into her life. She so loves Vickie, she brings her bones, squirrels, rabbits, and chunks of dead deer.

Here are just a few of the fun facts about the animals.

• "Love me, love my cats", Vickie Gunderson, just before we got married.
• My mother (Mattie Bostic), really dislikes ALL the animals.
• It took almost 3 months to stop the cats from sleeping all over us.
• Shem has a thing for head butting and following women into the bathroom.
• The word "Shem" can be a noun, verb, adjective, or adverb, depending on how it is used.
• Jingle can jump over six feet high to the top of a cabinet without any help.

I could continue with story after story, but maybe that will be something to write in another post.

The wonderful world of insomnia

Sometimes I believe it would be really nice if everyone had to video tape or otherwise "record" their lives. There are so many questions I have about what is normal vs. what everyone else pretends to be normal. I am speaking science here and not some weirdo wish to be a peeping tom.

Take for example the whole nose picking .... chore. This is of course, not something that is acceptable with others around, however, we have to tell our children not to do this from a young age. It must be something that everyone does when others are not around, just that we have to learn not to do it when others are around .... right?

My real curiosity is about how everyone else prepares for sleeping at night. I have struggled for so many years with insomnia that I just want to know if it is only me? Does everyone else exaggerate how much they sleep? Do I minimize how much I am sleeping and it is actually more that would be quantified if a scientific method were used? What do I do wrong that wakes me up or what could I be doing differently to catch and keep the illusive sandman?

I have gained some insight after getting married. Vickie has been struggling for about 5 days now. Since I do not really believe that my wife is strange (other than her taste in men) I have to conclude that not sleeping comes and goes like the seasons. I seem to be no help at all as I wake up as she goes to bed for the past week. I guess it is the interruption or more specifically, the change in the temperature, sounds, and body placement. Both of us seem to go until we finally fall down.

My actual conclusion from years of thought on the subject is that I have little control of my thoughts. I worry over Vickie, children, money, work, and pretty much anything else that I cannot stop thinking about. Reading before bed seems to help, however I still wake up in the middle of the night and cannot return to sleep.

I guess the recording device would actually need to be storing thoughts as well as actions for any type of analysis, so for now, I will continue to chase the Z.

First Posting on new blog site

Having now been through a marriage, the birth of two children, a divorce, dating, and now the re-marriage / merging of two households, I can honestly say, I have never been busier or happier.

It has taken over nine months for Vickie and I to get settled enough that I have taken time to update the bostic website enough to just incorporate our blogs. WOW that site needs an upgrade!

I am hoping that I will be spending more and more time writing on both my blog and hopefully something for Geekdad once in a while. I am very interested in what the blog with grow into as I hopefully spend some time updating it.